Monday, December 30, 2013

Fitting that my revival of my aliyah blog should be on an aliyahniversary-- it's my fourth aliyahniversary. This time I'm spending it in Israel, unlike my second one.

In case my loyal readers haven't noticed (do I even HAVE loyal readers?), I've taken a break from my blog. I just forgot to let you all know.

Let's do a countdown of four exciting things that happened since I made aliyah four years ago:
1. Met a lot of awesome people on my flight and during ulpan and have managed to stay in touch with a bunch of them.
2. I got a sewing machine. This may not seem like an exciting thing to many of you, but it's really exciting for me.
3. I met my husband, got married, and had a baby. I'm lumping these together, because if not they would be three out of four. Actually, I'm going to change this: 3. I met my husband and got married. (Baby deserves an a separate number).
4. I had a baby.

So...what's happened in the past 6 months? A lot.
Workwise: I finished my coverage positions and got a new job in a rehabilitative daycare/nursery school for babies and kids with visual impairments and mostly normal cognition. I'm continuing with my other jobs in a school for kids with visual impairment plus (complex-- severe physical handicaps and/or mental retardation), and in the residential facility connected to the school.
Family: Had a baby. Very close family friend got married (here! Yay!)
Living situation: Still where we have been since we got married.

Now that I'm back I'm planning on updating more often. Really. I also intend to do a post on pregnancy and giving birth in Israel. Someone remind me, please, because I don't remember anything anymore.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

This week we had a missile drill. I've written about these before, but they amuse me. Not because I think that incoming missiles are amusing, but because of what happens during them.

I was bringing something over to somebody and the siren went off-- I forgot that it was supposed to go off, so when it went off the woman I was at said, "Oh, do you want to come in?" I declined, saying I had to get back home. Meanwhile there were lots of other people out (aka, not in shelters/safe rooms). Yeah...about that...

Sunday, May 12, 2013

For the past week, another person peripherally involved in this story, Donna, has been trying to help by having someone that Joe respects talk to him about the situation and see if a compromise can be reached. This person, X, said that he would speak to Joe last week and also wanted to speak to both Joe and Mark. So far this doesn't seem to have happened; Donna has been calling X (or his secretary) every day or so, but so far, as far as Amy, Mark, and Mandy know-- nothing has happened.

Mark spoke to Amy last night and Amy said straight out that she will not force Joe to give up the camera. Mark spoke to Amy again today (I think-- it might have been last night) and said that if X does not speak to Joe by Tuesday, other routes may need to be pursued.

So it seems that Mark and Mandy will be renting a camera again next year at their own expense and Joe and Jessica will be continuing to use Amy and Andrew's camera for an indefinite period, completely expense-free.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Note: This is based on a true situation; names and the item in question have been changed. Please also note that there are a lot of emotions involved in this, but I have chosen to omit them.

Players:Amy and Andrew: Camera owners.Joe and his wife Jessica: Currently borrowing Amy and Andrew's; were told that they could borrow the camera for 2-3 years from March 2011; Amy and Andrew pay all associated costs with the camera.Mark and his wife Mandy: Currently renting a camera from someone else other than Amy and Andrew since March 2012; Mark and Mandy pay associated costs with the rental camera. Mark was told by Amy that he and Mandy could borrow Amy's camera beginning June or July 2013-- a month or two before they had to return the camera they were currently renting.

Potential Mitigating Factors:Joe is a full-time student and working part-time (approx. 3-5 shifts/week), and Jessica is studying full-time. They have savings that they are refusing to use to pay for rental of another camera. They state that they cannot afford to rent a camera, and they are not interested in paying Amy (and Andrew) for the use of their camera. They are in their early 20's and have been married since April 2011.Mark is a full-time student and working part-time (2 shifts/week), and Mandy is a part-time student and working part-time (4 days/week). They have used up one of their savings accounts paying to rent a camera from March 2012-July 2013, and will have to use up another if they are unable to borrow Amy [and Andrew]'s camera. They are expecting a child in September 2013. They state that they cannot afford to rent a camera without using up another of their savings account; they have offered to pay something for the use of Amy (and Andrew's camera), however Amy has refused it. They are in their middle-late 20's and have been married since March 2012.

The Dilemma:
Amy and Andrew jointly own a camera; Andrew prefers to have Amy deal with the camera. The camera was very dirty and needed to be cleaned before use, but Joe wanted to use the camera so he cleaned it (with Amy's permission); Mark helped Joe a little to clean it, and helped him to set it up and get it (the camera) into working order.

When Amy lent Joe (and his wife Jessica) the camera, she told him that he (and she) could use it for 2-3 years (unknown if Joe told Jessica that there was a time limit on the borrowing of the camera, but Joe definitely knew) from when he got it (from March 2011 to somewhere between March 2013-March 2014); there was no written agreement, only a verbal one. Amy and Joe both acknowledge this, and Andrew was not involved in this part. In March 2012, Mark and Mandy rented a different camera from someone else until August 2013.

Fast forward to December 2012. Mark asked Amy if he could borrow her camera when his rental was up. Amy said yes, and she thought Mark could have it starting around early April 2013, which was later changed to June 2013 (verbal agreement, not written). By this point (December 2012), Joe had been borrowing the camera from Amy for 1 year and 9 months, and in June 2013 it would be 2 years and 4 months since Joe received the camera from Amy, putting it in the 2 to 3 year time frame that he was told he would get. If Mark wanted to renew the rental for his camera he would have to do so two months before his rental expired (rental expires July 2013, so Mark would have to let the person from whom he was renting know by May 2013).

A week before Mark had to contact the person he was renting the camera from he spoke to Amy to make sure that he and Mandy would be able to have the camera when she (Amy) had said they would. Amy said that she needed to talk to Joe.

Fast forward two weeks to the end of the first week in May 2013, during which time it has come out that Joe didn't tell Jessica that they were supposed to return the camera in June, and in which time Mark and Mandy have lost their chance to renew their rental.

Mark asked Amy what he is supposed to do, because he counted on her [and Andrew's] camera. Amy said that the soonest she thinks she could get the camera back from Joe would be in June 2014, aka 3 years and 3 or 4 months from the time that Joe initially borrowed the camera.

Joe says that he is not giving up the camera because he was told he could borrow it for 2-3 years and it hasn't been 3 years yet, and the only reason Amy is asking for the camera back is to give it to Mark, and therefore refuses to give back the camera.
Mark says that Joe got what he (Joe) was promised he would get, and now it's his turn to borrow the camera like Amy committed to him.
Amy told Mark to look for another camera to rent, because in any case two cameras will be needed. Amy says that she is not going to make Joe give back the camera and she is sorry that she said anything to Mark. Also, she does not owe Mark the camera.

Now, reader, what do you think? (And, yes, I really do want to hear opinions and potential solutions, because this is a real dilemma.)

Monday, February 25, 2013

Monday, February 4, 2013

Sorry. I've been not feeling well/officially sick practically since my last post. I did intend on writing a post about voting and even started it- I do intend on posting it once I check it over.

Anyway, this winter is totally kicking my...erm...derriere. The temperature changes from warm- bordering-on-hot to cold-really cold-rainy are wreaking havoc on my body and immune system. So far I've had a runny nose, strep, and a sinus infection. In about the past month. So my body is not happy.

On the upside, I found some lovely doctors at my Kupat Cholim medical center.

I'm sitting at the computer desk in my living room. The computer was my husband's before we got married, and the monitors are also from him/his parent's office. The laundry rack near me is from me, the dishpads drying on it are from my parents, and there are backpacks on the couch and the floor.

The dining room set is from my paternal grandparents' apartment and the kiddush cup that I just put away was my maternal grandfather's. The kerchief that I use to cover my hair when I light candles to welcome in Shabbat [the Sabbath] and holidays is the one that my mother got for my grandmother (or great-grandmother, I don't remember which...) when she was in Israel.

Our toolbox/stepstool is from my aunt, and the small toolbox belonged to my maternal grandfather.

There is so much here that connects me to my roots, and at the same time it's somehow new.

There is a cabinet that belonged to my paternal grandparents that the gave me. I don't even know how old it is, just that it was always in the corner with little tchachkes in it.

Three years (and six days) ago, I made aliyah-- stepped off a plane with a couple hundred other people who had also decided to move to Israel.

In that time I have lived in three apartments, had three roommates, made so many friends, dated English-speakers and Hebrew speakers, re-learned to cook using Israeli ingredients, traveled around my new country, explored cities, became an Israeli-licensed occupational therapist, got a job, left it, and got a new one, met my husband-dated-got engaged-got married-moved to the middle of the desert, got my Israeli driver's license, and...I think I've done pretty well here.

Here's to another three years of learning this country (at which time I'll be up to six years :) )!

About Me

I am a "young Jewish professional" originally from NYC in my 20's who made aliyah in December 2009.
This blog started out as a trip blog from my post-graduate school trip to Israel and evolved into my aliyah blog.
It's all the frustrations and good things that happen and go along in this crazy process...
I really don't know how this is going to turn out, all I know is what's happened so far.
Leave a comment, let me know what you think, offer ideas/tips, etc!